Thursday June 13th 2024

Either the weather forecasters got it right or I understood their rhetoric better, but I didn’t get surprised by rain today. While there was still heavy rain in south Florida today, it was a fairly normal summer day in this area. It was humid and cloudy this morning with a few periods of sunshine. Late in the afternoon thunderstorms caused by the convergence of winds off the Atlantic and wind off the Gulf arrived. They brought wind, thunder and spectacular lightening. I watched a lot of air to ground lightening strikes to the southwest of my RV home.

Today was filled with a lot of errands. Some were simple and some were more complicated than they should be. Picking up a package at a nearby Amazon locker was the biggest problem of the day. I often use Amazon lockers. Usually it is easy and reliable. Today lots of things went badly. First, I usually get a notification on my phone when the package is ready for pickup. Today I hadn’t received one by the end of the expected delivery window, so I checked in the Amazon app. The delivery status was there complete with the usual bar code to open the locker. Once I drove the mile or so to the locker, I couldn’t get the bar code to open the locker. It may have been too bright or reflections from the sun that was visible at the time. To make matters worse, I couldn’t really read the message screen in the glare. Finally with strategic blocking and squatting below the screen I could see things well enough to enter the digits of the code manually. Then I almost got hit in the head by the door as it popped open. A two minute pickup took close to ten.

With the unpredictable weather this week preventing me from having any form of routine days, I’ve lost track of what day of the week it is. I thought it was Monday more than once today, but in reality the weekend is rapidly approaching.

Wednesday June 12th 2024

It seems like I’ve been writing blog entries about the rain or lack there of for the last week. Today is no exception. The forecast for rain got in my way again today.

Last night the forecast called for a significant possibility or rain each hour of the day. Therefore, when it started to rain around 4:30am, I wasn’t surprised. When I woke with the intent of getting up around 8:30AM the rain had stopped. The forecast at that point called for rain starting around 2PM. It never rained. At the time of this writing near 10PM, the rain isn’t supposed to return until late tomorrow afternoon. Thursday has a typical summertime forecast with afternoon thunderstorms.

It wasn’t only the rain that got in the way today, but a water outage in the campground also contributed. As I was getting prepared to make the coffee this morning, I found nothing coming out of the kitchen faucet. While I was outside checking the connection, I got a text message from the office staff declaring the hour long “emergency” water outage for my part of the resort. If I know an outage is possible I make sure my fresh water tank has fresh water in it. Today I had enough water in the tank to flush the toilet, but it was far from fresh. If I was going to drink it, I’d boil it first. The water in the tank was about three months old. The water was back on in about an hour and I could make coffee for breakfast.

With all the changes in the rain forecast, I finally headed out for groceries around 2PM. Originally I was going to go shopping during the rain, but since it didn’t see to be coming, I just went. I arrived at Walmart just in time to watch a drone take off from the parking lot. There is am experimental drone delivery service operating out of the parking lot. The Walmart grocery section seemed to be in restocking mode. There were pallets of groceries in almost every aisle. The only thing missing were people to load the shelves from the pallets. The obstructions made navigating a shopping cart a challenge.

Tuesday June 11th 2024

The rain arrived today, but so far it isn’t what I expected. It is coming in bands from the southwest. There was one short period of heavy rain this morning followed by a couple of hours of cloudy threatening sky. Around 2PM this afternoon the rain returned. It rained hard at the start and continued about four hours as light to medium rain. The sun actually made an appearance near sunset. This pattern, driven by a tropical development in the gulf, is expected to continue for the next two or three days.

Knowing that today was going to be filled with rain, I didn’t plan any outdoor activities. Instead I planned various shopping (read looking) tasks. I had the misfortune of being on the road when most of the heavy afternoon rain came down. It wasn’t terrible. I never had to run the wipers at full speed, but at times visibility was difficult. The rain also cooperated to the extent that it was only falling lightly when I had to go between my car and a store.

I was expecting heavy traffic this afternoon, but I didn’t find it to be as bad as expected. While people may have been staying in because of the rain, I think most of the difference is because the kids aren’t in school anymore. It was smooth sailing through some of the school zones that frustrated me back in April. Other areas that were usually backed up before were nowhere near as bad today.

I got one short walk in around my local area of the RV resort just before sunset. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting caught in a new rain shower. There are several drainage areas down the hill from my site that I wanted to view. They do not have any standing water in them yet. If the inches of rain forecast over the next few days happen, these collection areas may fill up.

Monday June 10th 2024

The actual high temperature today was a degree or two lower than the last couple of days, but the humidity and low wind out of the southwest made it feel much warmer. The feels like temperature was around 108 degrees this afternoon. Rain was supposed to arrive shortly after the lunch hour. In this area only a few random drops have fallen so far. Other locations in the general area have gotten heavy showers.

The forecast for the next few days call for “tropical rain”. A system in the Gulf of Mexico is going to allow lots of rain to fall on the Florida peninsular. One forecast called for fifteen inches of rain in the Miami to Naples area in the south. That same forecast has this area on a line between six and ten inches. The area is in a drought, so rain will be appreciated. The street and low lying areas flooding is thing nobody wants.

While I was chasing a few errands in the Clermont area this afternoon, I took the opportunity to visit the parks on the shores of Lake Minneola. There were a few people taking advantage of the lake on boats. They were making their own wind by keeping their speed over the water high. Along the shore it wasn’t really comfortable. Even in the shade of the big trees filled with Spanish moss, it was hot. I did some walking along the lake shore and out onto a fishing pier. The water birds I wanted to find were not around. I only got pictures of a few yellow flowers.

My evening walk around the RV park was canceled by the threat of rain. Another period of a few drops falling on the roof started as I got ready to head out. More importantly a lot of black clouds were on the north western horizon. They never moved overhead in this area, but their threat kept me indoors.

Sunday June 9th 2024

Today was a clone of Saturday. The weather was just as hot, humid and relatively wind free. The possibility of afternoon thunderstorms was more than zero, but none developed. It wasn’t outside kind of day. The temperature peaked in the upper half of the nineties. The forecast calls for a much higher chance of rain with lower high temperatures the rest of the week.

My day was also a clone of Saturday. I did a few inside chores, watched some TV and did some reading. The outside is fine once you spend a few minutes getting acclimated, but why bother if you don’t have a good place to go. All the places I thought of didn’t pass the “worth the heat” test.

Shortly after 7PM I took my daily walk around the RV resort. It was still above 90 degrees at that time. There were more people in the pools than normal and a few people were sitting in the shade along the lake shore. The lake is about a three quarter mile walk from my site on the hill, so I spent a few minutes in the shade on the shore as well before making the walk back.

Saturday June 8th 2024

It was a very inside kind of day. The outside temperature peaked around 98 with moderate humidity and very little wind. The only thing keeping the temperature down a little were the big fluffy clouds that occasionally blocked the sun. Tomorrow is forecast to be the same.

The air conditioner got turned on as I got out of bed and I kept the shades down to block the sun from getting inside. The shades were down on one side in the morning and the other side in the afternoon. I kept the bedroom space in the seventies as an escape if I should get overheated and let the main body of my RV home climb into the eighties. It was comfortable inside all day.

I worked on a few inside chores, watched a little TV and got in a lot of reading. The day moved along quickly. After supper, as the sun got lower in the western sky, I took my only walk of the day. It wasn’t the longest route I could take within the park, but it was a good distance. I didn’t see any rabbits tonight. They must be smart enough to stay back in the brush or their underground borrows. After all, I seemed to be the only crazy human out for a walk in the heat. Other people were out sitting in the shade.

Friday June 7th 2024

Today high temperature was reported to be 96 degrees or 3 degrees cooler than Thursday. The normal high temperature for this time of year is 92 degrees. Yesterday ended in thunderstorms and rain showers which made the overnight much cooler. We didn’t get any rain this afternoon. Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be in the upper 90s maybe even crossing into triple digits. The chance of rain is low. The TV weather forecasters are being very vocal about the dangers of the abnormal conditions.

With these weather conditions it is necessary to do things early in the day before the heat settles in during the afternoon. Unfortunately, my sleep schedule is still skewed. I go to sleep well after midnight and get up whenever I wake up. This morning, the bedroom TV was set to come on at 7:30 in an attempt to force me onto a new schedule. I got up, but I can’t really say I was awake. When I went to drink my coffee, I found I had forgotten to put any coffee grounds into the maker before pushing the start button. It was very weak coffee before I made a new cup. This was just the start of a less than productive morning. The heat of the day was arriving before I began the active part of my day.

Outdoor plans were put on hold for another day. I had considered a trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but that would be a very hot excursion. The animals are also known to hide in the shade during the heat of the day, so it wouldn’t be a great experience. I’ll try again next week. Instead I visited a few stores and entertained ideas for future purchases. My credit cared didn’t come out of my pocket today.

This evening, when the sun was low enough in the sky to be a little more comfortable, I took my daily walk around the park. Only a few of the usual rabbits were out this evening. There were two nibbling on the sparse grass behind the tennis courts. In the past I’ve seen six to eight in this location.

Thursday June 6th 2024

The temperature climbed into the upper nineties today. There was very little wind and plenty of humidity. The forecast for the day followed a typical Florida summer pattern. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms were forecast.

I planned my day in accordance with the forecast and got my errands completed before the time of the threatened storms. There was still no sign of storms as I returned to my RV home around 4:30PM. As I was eating supper around 6PM the rain began. The southwest sky was filled with black clouds with plenty of cloud to ground lightening. The storm lasted until about seven with some periods of very heavy rain and plenty of strong wind.

By quarter to eight the rain had been over for about forty five minutes and the western sky was clear. The sun was even trying to breakthrough in the area the storm came from. I decided to take my daily walk around the RV resort. As I walked down the hill away from my RV home I noticed the clouds to the east were still very dark. That was the area the previous storm had moved into, so I wasn’t concerned. I should have been.

As I was passing the laundry and pool building it started to sprinkle again. It didn’t take long before the sprinkle turned into real rain. I ducked into the laundry room just before the sky opened up again. About fifteen minutes later there was a break in the rain. I managed to get home during the pause, but a couple of minutes after closing the door to my RV home the rain returned. The western sky was still clear. The darn storm turned around or something. It was 9PM before everything was quiet again.

Wednesday June 5th 2024

Today’s temperature was about the same as yesterday. It peaked in the low to mid nineties. The humidity was also about the same, but the difference was the wind. There was only a few brief periods with any wind of consequence. I felt the difference.

Usually I open the windows and turn on the fans in the morning. When there is a enough wind the inside remains comfortable until two or three o’clock. Then I close up the windows and turn on the AC. The AC pretty much runs continuous until well after dark. Most nights when bedtime arrives, I turn off the AC. The cycling overnight tends to keep me from sleeping well. As the summer progresses the overnight temperature will require full time use of the AC, but for now that’s the pattern.

Today I needed to turn the AC on about ten this morning. The lack of wind was only one of the contributing reasons. The other was the psychological influence of this mornings TV weather forecasters. They were focused on how abnormal this current weather pattern is for the area. The lack of rain combined with the higher than normal temperatures was their primary talking point. After an increased chance of rain tomorrow, the dry pattern is forecast to return for the weekend. Sunday’s projected high is 100 degrees.

One of the problems with running the AC all day is the impact it has on my outdoor activity. The shock to the system when I step outside the air conditioned comfort to the outside makes me less incline to take long walks around the campground. Today I took two much shorter walks than normal. Another period of adaptation to the heat is needed before I get comfortable with my walks again.

Tuesday June 4th 2024

The humidity and the chance of rain increased a little today, but the rain never arrived. The temperature peaked in the mid nineties. The chance of rain and the temperature increases every day this week.

Today was a slow day with lots of little tasks. I had my head back in the TV cabinet chasing coaxial cables again. In addition to the cables that are in use, there are unused cables for other options and configurations. A couple of new ideas came to mind as I poked around. A trip to Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart didn’t find the parts I needed for my latest solution attempt. I placed another order from Amazon to get a replacement 1 to 8 splitter.

While I was at Walmart, I topped off my food supply. I didn’t really need a lot. I’ve been eating simpler and maybe lighter in the warm weather. The store wasn’t very busy at four in the afternoon. I spent more time searching in the electrical and electronics area to no avail than I did picking up groceries.

Walking around the RV resort this evening, I came to the conclusion that business is picking up here. At the beginning of May I watched as the last of the snowbirds departed. Now there are new RVs arriving every day. The park is still nowhere near full, but there are no more large empty areas. With school out in many of the southern states, there are a lot of families with children here. I think this would be a popular RV resort for people visiting Walt Disney World.